Hospital failures allowed nurses to prescribe and administer powerful
painkillers which led to the deaths of three patients and may have harmed
dozens more, an inquiry will reveal.

Managers at Airedale NHS Trust did not monitor what was happening on the wards at night where nurses were administering morphine and other powerful painkillers against guidelines, an inquiry will say.

A police investigation was launched into the deaths of three patients and one nurse was charged but never stood trial.

An independent inquiry into the trust will find that nurses were routinely prescribing and administering the drugs for years before the death of one patient triggered a probe in 2002.

Managers were too focused on achieving foundation trust status and were completely unaware of what was happening in the hospital at night, a leaked copy of the findings of the independent inquiry will say.

The accusation is similar to the findings after the Stafford Hospital scandal where dozens of patients may have died needlessly amid appalling standards of care while managers strived to achieve foundation status.

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A new regime brought into effect in the NHS in the early 1990s gave nurses more control over the wards at night to allow junior doctors more rest as their hours were being cut to comply with European rules.

However at Airedale, in Yorkshire, this meant nurses were prescribing powerful opiate painkillers to patients, against NHS and nursing rules, which can hasten or cause death if used without sufficient care.

Sister Anne Grigg-Booth was found to have administered diamorphine to Annie Midgley, 96 to allievate her distress, two hours before the elderly woman died.

Grigg-Booth was charged with the murder of three patients, one attempted murder and 13 counts of administering noxious substances with intent to cause harm.

Grigg-Booth died of an overdose in 2005 before trial.

The inquiry chaired by Kate Thirlwall QC, who has recently been appointed a High Court judge, is due to be published this week.

It will find that Grigg-Booth was not alone in administering the painkillers and that she was no 'Beverley Allitt', who was a nurse convicted of killing four children while working in a hospital in Lincolnshire in 1991.

The report says that hospital bosses 'failed to recognise or act upon the fact that Sister Grigg-Booth was part, if not a symbol, of a system that was not working'.

It says that managers lived in a parallel universe and the board did not know what was happening on the wards at night.

A 'club culture' meant that any concerns raised by individuals did not amount to anything, the report says.

It adds that 'enormous time and energy was being expended on achieving foundation trust status' and that 'this must not become an end unto itself'.

The report said: "Unfortunately there are examples across the NHS where it would appear that the process has beguiled boards into losing sight of their overriding goal of serving patients in the best way possible."

Ann Cryer, former Keighley MP, said she feared similar problems were happening at other trusts.

She said: "If the chief executive of a small district hospital like Airedale had no idea about the things going on under his nose, this could certainly happen in a bigger hospital, unless the right checks are in place."

A spokesperson for NHS Yorkshire and the Humber said: “We are disappointed on behalf of all the families involved that a draft version of the report has been leaked prior to publication.

"The real report will be released following our board meeting on Tuesday.”